MDS 3.0 updates strike

At least providers can't say they weren't warned about major changes to the new MDS 3.0 and other resident assessment tools that started this month.

A pair of sold-out training workshops run by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services early last month in St. Louis detailed the numerous changes that were to go into effect April 1. Some were expected to remains works in progress.

Section Q of the RAI manual was changed most drastically, expanding from a handful of pages to 22 total. The section is now much more specific and targets the resident's or family members' opinions about the resident remaining under care at the facility.

It also backs off initial changes made in October 2010 that forced providers to frequently ask each resident if he or she would like to move out of the facility. Residents can now request not to return to that topic.

Providers also are expected to know about their Local Contact Agency to help residents who want private services.
Among other topics, lengthy discussion also was devoted to the definitions and coding of planned and unplanned discharges. One big change: Unplanned discharges no longer require interviews.

Due to the volume of changes, experts encouraged providers to obtain new manuals rather than trying to insert all of the updated pages.

While long-term care professionals have at least two more weeks to agonize over the fate of a bill that would permanently repeal the current Medicare physicians funding formula, a host of other key funding "extenders" set to expire also hang in the balance.

Nearly four months into the year, a 2015 calendar sporting nude photographs of the residents of Pleasant Pointe Assisted Living in Akron, OH, are still flying out the door — so much so that a second printing was ordered.